On Monday, many senators either were undecided or weren't saying publicly how they would vote, and the outcome was too close to call.

The House voted last week to replace the flag adopted by the General Assembly in 1956 with a new design that downsizes the Rebel emblem from its current dominant position to a spot beside other Georgia and U.S. flags that have flown over the state.

Supporters see the bill as a compromise between those who view the current flag as a reminder of the state's racist past and those who see it as a living memorial to ancestors who fought for the Confederacy.

Last week's House vote came on the same day that supporters unveiled the new flag and Gov. Roy Barnes went to the House floor to urge its passage. There was no time for opponents to weigh in with their feelings.

While Barnes will address lawmakers again today in the Senate, the circumstances are different. Senators returning to Atlanta on Monday had a weekend at home to hear from constituents, many of whom were outraged at the proposal.

''I've heard from lots of people who say, 'Don't change the flag,' and even a few threats,'' said Sen. Faye Smith, D-Milledgeville, one of the Democrats caught between loyalty to party leaders and voters' wishes.

Republicans are getting the same message from home. Sen. Bill Stephens, R-Canton, said telephone calls to his office were running 9-1 against changing the flag.

Even Senate GOP Whip Tom Price, whose suburban Atlanta district includes many newcomers who grew up in the North, said his calls and e-mails were about 3-2 against the new flag.

Senate Minority Leader Eric Johnson said the lobbying by pro-change forces during the past few days has been heavy, most of it coming from Barnes' office or from local chambers of commerce.

Business leaders want the bill to pass to head off threats by civil-rights groups to launch an economic boycott of Georgia if lawmakers don't change the flag. The Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce endorsed the compromise bill Monday, while the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce voted last month to support changing the flag.

''There's some pretty hard-ball strong-arming going on to pass this bill,'' said Johnson, R-Savannah. ''Clients (of senators) are being called. Employers are being called. Ministers are being called.''

Some Republicans claim the governor's office is offering to support projects senators want for their districts in exchange for their votes, charges denied by Joselyn Butler, Barnes' spokeswoman.

''Yes, he's talking to legislators,'' Butler said Monday. ''He's talking to all of them as he would on any issue that's as important as this to him. The only difference is this is a short time we're dealing with.''

Sen. Don Balfour accused the flag bill's opponents of also using pressure tactics. On the Senate floor, he read e-mails he received during the weekend alleging that higher-ups with his employer, Waffle House, had ordered him to vote for the bill. The e-mails threatened to picket and boycott the chain's restaurants, he said.

''In my eight years in the Senate, there have been a number of times when I've voted for what was good for my constituents that wasn't good for Waffle House,'' said Balfour, R-Lilburn.

More overt forms of lobbying also were on display Monday, despite tighter-than-usual security at the Capitol.

On the steps of the statehouse, more than a half-dozen supporters of the existing flag, some decked out in Confederate uniforms, waved their preferred banner. One group held a large poster promising, ''No votes for turncoats.''

In the Capitol rotunda, a white proponent of changing the flag washed a black man's feet in a blue, plastic tub.

Tim Livingston, director of the Coalition to Change the Georgia Flag, called the act ''an outward manifestation of humbleness and humility'' and called for ''a new sunshine of reconciliation.''

Then, as news cameras rolled, he washed the feet of Joseph Flippin, a Morehouse College student and intern for Senate Majority Leader Charles Walker, D-Augusta.

Johnson said the Senate Republican caucus is taking no position on the legislation, so GOP senators are free to vote according to their consciences.

Democratic senators, however, appear to be feeling the stress of having to choose between party leaders and constituents.

Sen. Peg Blitch, D-Homerville, declined to discuss Monday what she had heard from voters during the weekend on the flag issue or whether she had decided to support the bill.

''Just watch me vote,'' she said.

Smith said she wouldn't let politics determine her decision because she couldn't believe her re-election prospects would hinge on one vote.

''I'm just trying to make sure when I go to bed (Tuesday) night and put my head on my pillow, that I can wake up and say, 'You did what was right,' '' she said.

Today's vote is expected to draw a crowd to the Senate chamber. Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, who presides over the Senate, asked senators Monday to keep members of their staffs off the floor today as much as possible and to enter and exit the chamber from the side doors.

The flag legislation also has affected Barnes' schedule. Butler said the governor has postponed until next week his annual State of the State message, which he had been due to deliver on Wednesday. She said his work on getting the flag bill passed has kept him from preparing the speech.